Public contracts pledged for disabled workers

Labour on Tuesday avoided an embarrassing row with unions after ministers agreed to use EU procurement rules to provide more public contracts for more than 2,000 disabled workers threatened by redundancy.

Peter Hain, work and pensions secretary, told conference that “winning more public procurement” was crucial if plans to close more than 40 factories operated by Remploy, a state-funded company established to provide work for disabled people, were to be avoided.